Do you have a morning routine?
Luke Westby

Luke Westby @lukewestby

About: Elm core contributor. Creator and former maintainer of ellie-app.com. elm-conf organizing team alumnus.

Joined:
Dec 29, 2016

Do you have a morning routine?

Publish Date: Aug 11 '18
46 24

I recently started the following morning routine:

  1. Clean my room and make my bed
  2. Do a couple body-weight exercises
  3. Stretch
  4. Drink a glass of water and take vitamins
  5. Shower and get dressed

I do it the same way every single day. The difference it has made in my outlook and ability to focus for the rest of the day is noticeable. Do any of you do something similar with your mornings?

Comments 24 total

  • ItsASine (Kayla)
    ItsASine (Kayla)Aug 11, 2018
    1. Dismiss 8am alarm
    2. Snooze 8:30am alarm
    3. Snooze again at 8:40am to cuddle the cat (which cat varies daily)
    4. Get dressed
    5. Wonder how it became 9:12am
    6. Get to work at 9:28am
    7. 9:30am stand up meeting

    I'd like to get into a routine with stretching/yoga and maybe bodyweight stuff, but it'd likely be at night when I'm awake and shower.

    • Maria Boldyreva
      Maria BoldyrevaAug 12, 2018

      Same here.

    • Altessaire
      AltessaireAug 12, 2018

      Same

    • David J Eddy
      David J EddyAug 13, 2018

      "...
      Wonder how it became 9:12am
      Get to work at 9:28am
      ..."
      15 minute commute to work, nice!

      • ItsASine (Kayla)
        ItsASine (Kayla)Aug 14, 2018

        $1400+ per month in rent to be in walking distance of work, but I don't know how to drive so pros and cons :)

  • Rob Hoelz
    Rob HoelzAug 12, 2018

    I aspire to the following routine:

    • Get up at 7:00, let the dog out, start the coffee brewing.
    • Meditate for 5-10 minutes.
    • For the next 45 minutes or so, accomplish some creative work. This could be coding, writing, whatever - as long as I'm creating rather than consuming.
    • At 8:00, take the dog for a walk.
    • At 8:20, work out on the rowing machine and shower up.
    • Start work at 9:00.

    I don't always get to the meditation, and that 8:00 walk gets fudged a lot if I get wrapped up in something, but it's an aspirational routine, after all! =)

  • momen-ghulmi
    momen-ghulmiAug 12, 2018
    1. waking up at 6:30 am

    2. stretching my muscles.

    3. making some coffee.

    4. putting the headphones in my ears (new music everyday).

    5. getting to an open space in front of my house and walking back and forth for an hour.

    6. having breakfast and going to work.

    7. starting work at 8:30.

  • Matthew Griffith
    Matthew GriffithAug 12, 2018
    1. No alarm.
    2. Full, huge glass of water, like, 20-30oz. Sometimes with lime, sometimes with a few shakes of pink sea salt, actually.
    3. Sometimes a meditation(~7 min).
    4. Feed cats. Potentially sing them a song.
    5. Coffee and a few hours of work focusing on stuff that requires more brain power. I find my brain is stronger in the morning.

    I generally don't eat till lunch and work out (usually rock climbing or weights) around 6pm.

  • George
    GeorgeAug 12, 2018

    It normally varies for me, I have a terrible sleep schedule and I often get woken up in the middle of the night to fix something.

    1. Wake up whenever I can
    2. Wake up again
    3. Wake up for the final time
    4. Get dressed
    5. If I'm out pack everything I need (very bad I know, should do it day before)
    6. I skip breakfast as I normally wake up between 12-2pm, so eat lunch
    7. Check in on slack messages and emails
    8. Review the code from the previous day, make sure that it works, fix any bugs, sometimes rewrite little bits
    9. Begin work
  • Ben Sinclair
    Ben SinclairAug 12, 2018
    • Wake up anywhere between 6 and 7
    • If the alarm's gone off snooze it a few times
    • If the alarm hasn't gone off yet just get up instead
    • Spend ten minutes deciding whether to drive or take the bus
    • Take the bus
    • Read or watch youtube for an hour on the bus
    • Get off about 1km from work for a little bit of a walk in
    • Get coffee on the way in so I don't get tempted to try the awful office coffee
    • Work work work work work work work work
    • Ctrl-Z until back in bed.
  • Derrick Koon
    Derrick KoonAug 12, 2018

    4:30am : Wake Up, Take Meds,Shower.
    4:45am : Coffee and Contemplation (This is what mornings are for)
    5:00am : Journal/Bullet Journal Daily Goals.
    5:30am : Read Blog Feed, (Feedly, roughly 400 feeds currently)
    6:00am : Wake Kids, Get Ready for Work.
    7:30am : Arrive at work 1hr before everyone else....
    Profit....

    • robencom
      robencomAug 13, 2018

      If you wake up at 4:30 AM, what time do you sleep?

      • Derrick Koon
        Derrick KoonAug 13, 2018

        Normally I am in bed about 10-10:30

  • Khmaies Hassen
    Khmaies HassenAug 13, 2018

    1- drink glass of milk and eat an omlette
    2- go to coffee shop and smoke only one cigarette with a dark espresso

  • Gregory Sequeira
    Gregory SequeiraAug 13, 2018
    1. Get up at 6 am.

    2. Freshen up.

    3. Workout from 6:30 am to 8 am.

    4. Shower at 8:15 am.

    5. Breakfast at 8:30 am.

    6. Leave for work at 9 am.

    (Better said than done XD )

    • Alex Timmer
      Alex TimmerAug 13, 2018

      Exactly my thought :P What I aspire to in the mornings is way more then actually happens.

  • Gaurav Chaddha
    Gaurav ChaddhaAug 13, 2018

    I have a very simple routine which I picked up from a suggested video on Facebook. It had an army general tell his story about how he starts his day by making his bed and that small task sets him up for the day. I thought, sure I can do that. Next day, when I woke up - I made my bed. Surprisingly, I did the next tasks pretty efficiently. Sure, my will deteriorated through the day but I got my kick-start. I really recommend this. Also I recommend to start with the most important task of your day quickly as you have the will and energy to do it in the morning.

  • Kristian Os
    Kristian OsAug 13, 2018
    • Alarm 06:00.
    • Brush teeth, hair styling and basic hygiene.
    • Out the door 06:18.
    • Connecting busses and arrive at work 06:35.
    • Work until 15:00 at the latest.
    • Let the day begin.
  • Quentin Sonrel
    Quentin SonrelAug 13, 2018

    The good days:

    1. 7:30 wake up, glass of water and straight to shower
    2. 7:50 breakfast
    3. 8:10 tea time!
    4. 8:20 teeth brushing, air combing, beard trimming and other things to go from "morning hobo" to "shiny web dev"
    5. 8:45 leave for work to be there around 9:00

    ... in theory. It goes that well once or twice a week, the other scenario is:

    1. 7:30 to 9:00: snooze the alarm (or just sleep through it...)
    2. 9:00 to 9:15: rush everything I can
    3. 9:30 arriving to work still half asleep and wanting to die

    I used to meditate a bit in the morning but these days I'm just too tired and just fall back asleep if I try.

  • David J Eddy
    David J EddyAug 13, 2018

    IMO routine's are key to freeing your mind to deal with other problems. How can you concentrate on fixing the n+1 problem if you spend 20 minutes finding what cloths to wear for the day..

    A typical weekday morning routing:
    Start time: 7am

    • 1st alarm; 50 / 50 chance of snoozing it
    • 2nd alarm; 100% out of bed, make the bed
    • shower
    • breakfast: bagel / cereal
    • dress
    • teeth/good smelling spray
    • if no snooze I have 15 minutes to read; twitter / personal e-mail / GitHub issues
    • out the door heading to work End time: 8am
  • Hansel Solevilla
    Hansel SolevillaFeb 2, 2020

    I'm really surprised that tons of people are not taking their breakfasts. I can't imagine working productively (on my case) without it!

    • Luke Westby
      Luke WestbyFeb 18, 2020

      Same here. I just learned a bit more about the relationship between food and brain biochemistry and I never start the day without it since then. Turns out your brain doesn't work well unless you have some energy sources available!

      • Hansel Solevilla
        Hansel SolevillaFeb 18, 2020

        True. I think that's the reason why they say it is the important meal of the day.

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